G/TFA/W/35  
 
2 March 2021  
(21-1775) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Trade Facilitation  Original: English  
 
 
PROPOSAL TO UPDATE THE WTO COMMITTEE 'S TRADE FACILITATION  
MEETING AGENDA AS PART OF THE FOUR -YEAR REVIEW  
OF THE WTO AGREEMENT ON TRADE FACILITATION  
ARTICLE 23.1.1. 6 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE UNITED STATES  
The following communication, dated 25 February 2021, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the United States.  
 
_______________  
 
 
INTRODUCTION  
1. In light of the four -year implementation review of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation 
(TFA) required by A rticle 23.1.1. 6 of the TFA, the United States puts forward a proposal to update 
the Committee 's meeting agenda in an effort to optimize Committee work in implementing the TFA. 
As a Member -driven organization, Members should actively participate in Committe e work by 
updating and maintaining Committee agendas to accurately reflect current TFA timelines and 
deadlines and sharpen the focus of relevant Committee work as defined by Members.  
BACKGROUND  
2. Since the TFA entered into force on 22 February 2017, the Comm ittee has maintained a 
standing agenda item to review notifications according to Article 15 of the TFA, also known as 
Category A notifications. Article 15 of the TFA states in pertinent part:  
Article 15.1: Upon entry into force of this Agreement, each developing country Member shall 
implement its Category A commitments. Those commitments designated under Category A 
will thereby be made an integral part of this Agreement.  
Article 15.2: A least  developed country Member may notify the Committee of the provisions it 
has designated in Category A for up to one year after entry into force of this Agreement. Each 
least-developed country Member's commitments designated under Category A will thereby be 
made an integral part of this Agreement.  
3. Article 15 notifi cations were due for Developing Members, which utilized the flexibilities in 
Section II, on entry into force of the TFA and for LDC Members one year later ( 22 February 2018). 
The deadline for all WTO Members to comply with this obligation thus has long pas sed. 
4. The United States proposes removing this standing item as a regular part of future agendas. 
Maintaining this standing agenda item inappropriately normalizes the submission of long -overdue 
notifications, even several years after relevant deadlines. As Committee Members, we should aspire 
to a high standard of timely submission of notifications. Besides, nothing prevents the Committee 
from reviewing Article 15 notifications on an ad hoc  basis.  
5. Over time, the Committee has reviewed more than 100 Article 15  notifications from Members, 
and only a small fraction of remaining Members have yet to submit a notification. According to the 
TFA database, only four percent of WTO Members have not submitted any portion of Article 15 
notifications and two percent have s ubmitted partial notifications. In total, these percentages G/TFA/W/35  
 
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  represent six Members. Nothing in this proposal prevents these six Members from submitting their 
Article 15 notifications to the Secretariat.  
ACTIONS AND ANALYSIS  
6. Perhaps a more effective use of t ime would be to create a standing agenda item that allows 
for Members to provide an update for any overdue or missing Section I and Section II notifications. 
It would benefit the Committee to hear from Members whose notifications are delayed or missing. 
This approach, similar to the Committee 's thematic discussions, would provide all Members with the 
opportunity to share creative solutions with those experiencing challenges implementing the TFA.  
7. A substantial number of Members have missed the TFA deadlines to submit Section I and 
Section II notifications. According to the TFA Database, on  12 February 2021, there were over 100 
separate Section I and Section II notifications that remain outstanding:  
• Thirteen  Members have submitted partial or no information reg arding technical assistance 
and capacity building needs to implement Category C provisions.  
 
• Thirty -eight Members are overdue in submitting one or more transparency notifications per 
TFA Articles 1.4, 10.4.3, 10.6.2, and 12.2.2. In addition, according to o ur calculation, 
80 transparency notifications are missing relevant information.  
 
• Seven of the 17 donor Members1 have not provided information per TFA Article 22.1 
regarding support for capacity building provided by donors for the years 2017 and 2018.  
 
• Fifty-nine Members2 are overdue in submitting information per TFA Article 22.3 regarding 
contact points of Developing and LDC Members seeking technical assistance and capacity 
building (TACB) support.  
 
8. It is important that our Committee work together to clos e the gap in Section I and Section II 
notifications through discussion.  
PROPOSAL  
In conclusion, the United States proposes the following:  
 
(1) Remove "Review of Notifications Under Article 15 of the TFA " as a standing agenda item, 
recognizing that the Committee may review new Article 15 notifications on an ad hoc  basis; 
and 
 
(2) Add a new standing agenda item for Members to provide updates on overdue Section I and 
Section II notifications.  
 
__________  
 
1 A donor Member is considered any Member regardless of development status that provides technical 
assistance and capacity building support to another Member for the purpose of TFA implementation. An exact 
number of who should be reporting is not known. However, we have identified 17 Members that have 
previously made notifications.  
2 There are 95 total Members eligible to submit this notification. This number represents all LDC and 
Developing Members that have submitted C ategory C designations. Overall, there are 125 LDC and Developing 
Members. Some Members have not submitted Category C designations because they do not require TACB, 
while a small minority have failed to submit any category designations.